True North

Now I know I’ve been rather tough on Senator Norm Coleman, but when he does something right I’m not above giving him praise, as much as it personally pains me to do so.* And recently he did do something right.

Roughly a week ago, Coleman introduced a “Sense of the Senate” type bill indicating their opposition to drivers licenses for illegals. I gave lukewarm praise for having the right idea, but doing it via a method that was essentially meaningless.

Well now he took the next step and introduced a bill effectively preventing states from issuing drivers licenses and state IDs to illegal aliens (S 2356). It’s a short bill, basically amending the REAL ID Act of 2005. Short bills are good, less room for loopholes.

Kudos to Coleman for finally taking a step in the right direction.

In the past Coleman has gone along with amnesty efforts, in the belief that a few amendments could make it better. While this belief is sorta amusing in it’s naivety, that’s hardly an admirable trait in a Senator. At no point in any of the amnesty efforts would any amount of lipstick made that pig any less a ham-sandwich-to-be. Some would rather bizarrely call it principled, I call it stupid.

However, it is my hope, and perhaps I’m being naive and stupid now, that once Coleman gets all his lipstick passed (or at least debated), he’ll come to his senses. It is to be hoped that if Coleman can see that his provisions, while admirable, are in the grand scheme, minor enough that they don’t change the overlying issue of amnesty and non-existant border enforcement one iota.

* No I’m not gonna elaborate.

[Crossposted at EckerNet.Com, comments accepted and possibly even welcomed there.]